Selena Gomez, star of the Disney Channel’s popular “Wizards of Waverly Place” and singer whose debut album “Kiss & Tell” hit Billboard’s Top 10, will headline a show at Musikfest’s main RiverPlace stage on Aug. 14, it was announced this morning.

The announcement gives Musikfest its first act targeted to the ‘tween market since Aaron Carter played the 10-day downtown Bethlehem festival in 2005.

Tickets, at $20 to $42, will go on sale to ArtsQuest members at 10 a.m. April 19 and the public at 10 a.m. April 23.

Gomez, 17, sold out the 3,000-seat Tower Theater in Upper Darby in February as one of her first shows to promote “Kiss & Tell,” on which she performs with her band, The Scene. The disc produced the song “Naturally,” which hit Billboard’s Top 30.

Shortly before the Musikfest show, Gomez will make her feature film debut -- she previously voiced a character in 2008's "Horton Hears a Who" -- in July in the title role of “Beezus and Ramona,” (Gomez plays the former), an adaptation of the Beverly Cleary children's book.

She won the award for Favorite TV actress at thee Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday.

The Emmy Award-winning "Wizards of Waverly Place," in which Gomez plays a teen from a spell-casting family, has become the top show in its time slot since debuting 2007. A 2009 movie based on the series was the Disney Channel's No. 2 most-watched movie ever, and the most-watched cable telecast that year.

Another movie in which she starred, "Princess Protection Program," with fellow Disney teen princess Demi Lovato, was the channel's fourth most-watched ever.

Before starring on “Wizards of Waverly Place,” Gomez made her acting debut on TV’s children show “Barney & Friends,” also alongside Lovato.

In addition to her debut album, Gomez has sung individual songs on several Disney compilation albums, such as “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” on the 2008 “Another Cinderella Story” soundtrack, “One and the Same” with Lovato on “Disney Channel Playlist,” “Fly to Your Heart” on the “Tinkerbell” movie soundtrack and three songs on the “Wizards of Waverly Place” soundtrack.

Other shows announced so far for the Musikfest are jazz-pop singer Norah Jones on Aug. 7, country singer Martina McBride on Aug. 8, Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd on Aug. 9,The Doobie Brothers on Aug. 11 and Styx and Blue Oyster Cult on Aug. 12.

Tickets for all but Styx and Blue Oyster Cult are on sale. Styx and Blue Oyster Cult go on sale at 10 a.m. April 19 to ArtsQuest members and to the public at 10 a.m. April 23.

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.